Hey I am going to take AP Biology as a freshman, it’s going to be my first AP class along with AP Human Geography. My science teacher said it is extremely difficult, discouraging most of the students who wanted to take it. I still feel like I could do well on that class. What do you guys think? How hard is it?
It depends on the teacher and your abilities. Since the teacher is discouraging it, particularly for a freshman, I’d assume it’s very difficult at that school.
I wouldn’t recommend taking AP Biology as a freshman- it’s a lot of memorization and a lot of reading and note taking that freshman generally are not used to. I am a junior and am taking it right now, and for me it is relatively easy, however I don’t think I would be able to do the course as a freshman due to the amount of content that you have to learn. You have to learn how to read somewhat long chapters and memorize/understand concepts pretty quickly in that class, so I would recommend taking Bio H (I’m assuming that that is what freshman usually take in you school? It s in mine).
AP Human Geo on the other hand, is a good course for freshman to start out with. It is relatively easy, and should help with future AP courses that you might take. My first AP course was AP World History as a sophomore (school doesn’t really let freshman take AP courses) and it really helped me prepare for the rigor of other AP courses, so I would just stick with that.
Freshman year should be about adapting to high school, so don’t stress yourself out too much by taking courses that are too rigorous. Good luck!
I agree with most of what the poster above said but I don’t think it’s unmanageable as a freshman. I’m taking it as a junior right now as well and it IS a lot of reading and memorization but it’s not a difficult course. Study and dedicate a sufficient amount of time to it outside of school and you will be just fine. I think it would be best to get other student perspectives on the course though. I had a teacher who tried to discourage kids from taking Honors Chem my sophomore year and it turned out to be an easy A. Other than that APHG is a great course as well and pretty easy.
AP Bio is just a lot of memorization. It could be self studied. Just make sure you devote a decent amount of time to it and you will be fine.
Honestly if you’re still thinking about it during the summer, I would take it along with human geography. I took ap bio and ap human geo my freshman year and i managed to make it through. It is a lot of memorization and it is tough. Human geo was easy. If you feel confident like I did, you’ll do fine.
UPDATE: I decided to take it, my second week of school just ended, and it is going great. Yes, I am having a lot of homework, I am still learning how to manage it. But my teacher is awesome, and I am enjoying the class a lot.
btw: There are only 2 students who are not freshman on a 20+ people class. Every kid who does good on middle school usually takes AP Bio as a Freshman (That’s probably just my school).
AP biology was my easiest class by far.